ISSAEV WITH THE CALIFORNIA BALLET

At the end of its 19th season, the San Diego-based California Ballet Company resembles many small, regional ensembles in America--with at least one major difference.

Typically, it is strong in its mostly home-grown female ranks, and it needs to import many of its leading males. Its choreography ranges from imperishable classics of the 19th Century to new works by an indefatigable artistic director (Maxine Mahon), with an annual “Nutcracker” ensuring some degree of solvency, if not growth.

Where the California Ballet may differ from the norm is in the scale of Mahon’s ambitions and her ability to pull off major coups.

Instead of merely borrowing a “Nutcracker” cavalier from the Joffrey or American Ballet Theatre, for instance, Mahon opened a new chapter in U.S.-Soviet cultural exchange in December by engaging Stanislav Issaev, 1980 gold medalist at the Varna International Ballet Competition and a leading dancer at the Moscow State Ballet Theatre.

Friday, at the East County Performing Arts Center, Issaev returned in two Petipa showpieces--but Mahon’s biggest coup was keeping her company from being overshadowed by his world-class virtuosity. Certainly, in the “Corsaire” pas de deux (reportedly staged by Issaev), Denise Dabrowski danced opposite him with a sumptuous Californian amplitude that ideally complemented his dynamic Moscow propulsion.

Short but nobly proportioned, Issaev has a coltish, perfectly stretched jump, faultless control of high-velocity, intricately embellished turns and a sense of style at once aristocratic yet free of affectation.

However, in the divertissement from “Paquita,” opposite Karen Evans, Issaev’s partnering proved unreliable. Moreover, Evans lacked the temperament for this prima role: Her technique looked secure, but she brought no sense of occasion to her dancing. The subsidiary soloists--Dabrowski, Jennifer Curry and, especially, Sylvia Poolos--each displayed sharper articulation, more distinctive personalities.

But, happily, nearly everyone in “Paquita” danced with a fine command of classical style and a mastery of the ballet’s quasi-Spanish rhythms and poses that more celebrated companies often smudge.

Mahon’s new “Western Orpheus” attempted to relocate the ancient Greek myth in the American frontier but wavered between engaging pure-dance sequences and feeble storytelling.

Set to a lively, atmospheric score by David Ward-Steinman, the ballet began promisingly with a mock-Balanchine vision of Apollo-as-rhinestone-cowboy, strumming his big guitar on Parnassus. But, despite the enormous spirit and talent of Dabrowski as Eurydice and guest Joe Wyatt as Orpheus, the major characterizations never coalesced.

If no special insights, immediacy or purpose emerged from Mahon’s retelling, a sensational hoedown gave Wyatt and Dabrowski the chance to display eccentric, high-energy legwork.

Kathy Auten’s graceful, tasteful, wholly unimaginative formal quartet, “Brandenburg Concerto No. 2,” completed the program. Taped music accompanied all the ballets.